Gladiator Run

Had a good time at the Gladiator Run held down in Irvine at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Saturday. Nitro, one of the original American Gladiators was there. Very cool. The course was a 5k obstacle covered mud hole basically! We got about a half mile of trails to warm up then had to run up and down, up and down, across and up and down the amphitheater itself (I'm so shit ass at stair climbing that I have started a new routine involving the stair climber at the gym) and then the obstacles start: high stepping through tires, avoiding Swiss balls being thrown at you, more tires, hurdles, a 30 pound bag of rice to carry, more hurdles and then the mud. Oh the mud. Two big mud pools, knee deep with ropes going across that force you down INTO the mud. Muddy, slippery ass hills to climb, woop dee doos, more mud and finally the finish line. This is what I looked like coming through at the end. Kristen, of course, came in first female and fourth overall in our wave.

2010 Long Beach Turkey Trot

This is the last year we will run the LB trot. It's too bad because it is a nice, flat, fast course along the beach, but it is seriously getting way too crowded for the narrow bike path. It's great that the sport of recreational racing is getting more popular, but some events just have to know when to evolve and this one hasn't yet.

The race cost $30 and with an estimated 6000 runners, you would think they would have chip timing or at least take your tag and document your time. Nope. They also run the 5k AND the 10k at the same time. Dumb. They also ran the races at 7:30am, then at 8:30am then again at 9:30am. What they don't tell you is that they only keep track of and award prizes to the runners of the 9:30am race. Stupid. Especially since Kristen was 1st place female yet no one even acknowledged this as she crossed the finish line. No one. Nothing. And the "beauty queen" handing out the traditional pumpkin pies wouldn't give one to her because apparently Kristen didn't have "the right bib number". Are you kidding me? It's one thing to hand out pies to a random sampling of bib numbers, but to not even give one to THE FIRST PLACE FINISHER! Not smart. I went back to ask if I had the right number because I just kind of blew by the finish line and the "beauty queen" yelled at me over her shoulder, "You don't have the right number!" I thought it was funny that she didn't even bother to look at my bib. Oh well.

So Kristen ran the 10k in 41:38 and was the first female to finish. But only the 9:30am racers got acknowledged. I ran the 10k in 54:37 which is 2:26 slower than my PR. Anyway, we ran it with some fellow AREC'ers and close friends so regardless of the problems with the race, we still had a good time. Next year, Dana Point.

Run Like Hell

A little late, but I wanted to update the thousands of people that read my blog and send fan mail...uh hum...Kristen and I were in Atlanta for a few days during the Halloween weekend and we ran the Historical Oakland Cemetery "Run Like Hell" 5k. It was a great race that started at the entrance of the cemetery and ran out into the surrounding streets (of course, filled with hills that I was not prepared for) and then ended with the final quarter mile winding through the actual cemetery. It was a fun race with a lot of really enthusiastic people dressed up in Halloween costumes that were blown away that Kristen and I came all the way from L.A. to run their race (we didn't tell them that we were there for another reason). I ran just over my PR, but because I was excited and in the moment I went out with the leaders of the race and ended up running a 6:21 pace for the first mile. I realized that I screwed myself at that point and ran the remaining two miles at about 9:35, but oh well. It was fun. Kristen was 4th female overall and won 1st place in her age group...as usual.

While in Atlanta we also drank some wine as usual. Had something called JAM JAR. It's a Shiraz from Western Cape, South Africa 2009 vintage and the name says it all. It's a fruit bomb, too sweet with a long, syrupy finish and no tannin. It was hard to drink. Probably needs something spicy or robust like barbecue to tame it. Another wine was a Lang and Reed Cab Franc from Lake County 2007 vintage. It was a good wine, nice structured tannin, medium finish with a hint of fruit. The final wine worth mentioning was a Terlato & Chapouitier Shiraz blend 2007 vintage. It was very inky with a pleasant tannin and a dry finish.

Two weeks later we ran the Cal State Long Beach Pyramid 5k that started and finished at the base of the big blue Pyramid on the CSULB campus. It was another fun, but tough 5k that had a major uphill climb that started right at the beginning of mile 2. I fully intended to run a solid 8 minute pace for each mile, but since I wasn't prepared for the huge hill, I ended up dropping from 8:08 in the first mile to a 8:17 pace for the remaining two. Not horrible, but again it put me just over my PR. Oh well. Kristen won 1st place in her age group again. Hooray!

The next race coming up for us is the Long Beach Turkey Trot 10k down in Belmont Shores. I pulled a muscle in my lower back lifting weights and have had to cut back on the miles so we'll see what happens. Anyway, keep on runnin' and havin' fun!

Boston

Kristen and her friend Wendy both got into the Boston Marathon for 2011! Apparently this year was the fastest the event ever sold out: 8 hours! Amazing. So Wendy's boyfriend Paul and I will be rooting them on at the race, beers in hand! Can't wait!

Long Beach Marathon Report

Another year has gone by and Kristen and I ran the Long Beach Marathon again, well Kristen did, I ran the half this time. Kristen absolutely CRUSHED her time from last year (which was her first marathon) by 8 MINUTES! Last year she ran a 3:33 and yesterday, even after falling, she blasted through the finish line at 3:25 flat. Amazing. Especially since around mile 10 she got tripped up and fell to her knees and hands. She got cut up a little, but everything seemed fine until she hit the hill at Cal State Long Beach. That's when she realized that she pulled a muscle in her upper quad. Apparently that didn't stop her from running really fast.

I, on the other hand, did not PR. In fact, I thought I was going to run really slow since I haven't really had the time (or maybe desire) to train properly to PR. But as anybody who has run knows that the energy of a race helps you when you need it most. I was less than 5 minutes slower than my last half which really surprised me. I thought I'd run a 2:15 or even a 2:20, but I came in just over 2:09. Not good, but still much better than I thought. So I'm going to reward myself to day with an iPhone 4! As a side note, I will never again eat one of those damn chewy Shot Blok things during a race. Training runs maybe, but never during a race. I had a few in my pocket and at 1 hour I pulled a couple out and started chewing just as I was coming into a water station. I damn near choked to death trying to get those things down and I was trying not to look like a tool while doing it. It sucked the energy out of my run for a few minutes as I really slowed down to get that crap out of my throat and teeth. Bad, bad idea.

Anyway, Kristen is now feverishly trying to register for Boston, but the site is mobbed with entrants. Cross your fingers.

Hot Hot Heat

Kristen and I ran yesterday (8 and 4 respectively), but of course I forgot to bring my camera. We went out again this morning on some pretty sore legs and pounded the pavement once more. After our run yesterday we went on a pretty strenuous 5 mile hike on West Maui and combine that with a little bit of time difference and today was tough. The humidity doesn't help either. Nonetheless, we stuck to our guns. But no hiking today. We both agreed that our bodies need a bit of rest (I know, we're on vacation and we still knock ourselves out). Anyway, we're gonna hit the beach and then head over to Paia which is kind of a little hippie town and hang out and have dinner. Tonight, live music!

Maui!

Kristen and I are in Maui for 8 days for vacation (oh the horror!). After half a year of construction on the house and her studying for her 10th and final architecture exam it is well earned if I do say so myself! Anyway, we drove around today and plotted out our runs for the week. I am going to take my still and video cameras with me on the runs and post them all week. Stay tuned!

Long Beach Half

What a difference a year makes. And a home addition. I'm running the LB half marathon this year (did the full last year), but Kristen is doing the full again. Just as well. She ran an 18 miler the other day and said it wasn't tough at all. In fact, the other people running with her were shocked that she didn't drink a ton of fluids or eat gels while running. She's a mutant I guess. Me, on the other hand, I'm shit. The desire and ambition just aren't there for me these days. Oh, I still go out and trudge out the miles, but not nearly as much as I should. One thing that's great about training this summer is that we've had an unusually cool one so it's made those morning runs a lot easier. I just fall to pieces in the heat so it's been a lot better lately. We'll see if we get an Indian summer this fall though. Anyway, all our funds were going to the construction of our addition so we've only been drinking your basic Trader Joe's, Sprouts/Henry's cheap wine. Hey, it's good enough to get you through the rough patches. Soon though, we need to hit wine country and try to scare up some deals. More on that later...

Mike Floyd...The Wall

As in: We've almost hit it. The house is almost done. The deck is kicking my ass but turning out great. But I hurt man. Deep down pain you know. I haven't been to the gym in two months. I ran a total of 0 miles last week. Too much to do on the house (we're trying to finish quickly to get our final inspection so we can then get an appraisal for a refi...it's a long story), and work is keeping me really busy. I was down in San Diego last week for Comic-Con (Crazy!) so I wasn't able to do any running. So yesterday was the first day I was able to get up early and actually crank out a measly 3 miles. I swear it's almost like starting all over again. Almost. I can handle the mileage, but my speed and breathing have gone into the crapper. Doesn't matter. I was just glad to pound the pavement.

We are getting our final inspection on the house on Monday. If all goes well (which it should) then there is just a little painting here and there inside and we have to move some furniture around. Give the house an overall cleaning inside and out and spiff up the yard and BOOM. Done. I figure I'll be back to a normal life soon. Fingers crossed. In the meantime RUN ON!

Construction

Haven't been running as much as I'd like to these days. We're adding on to our house so it's total chaos over here and we're doing some of the work ourselves so that's been kicking my ass. I'm sore all over so it makes the idea of going out for a run not as inviting. And since we're spending all our money on the house we haven't had a chance to go out and taste as much wine as we'd like. However, we did manage to break away last Saturday and go to our local tasting room. They served up a series of Malbecs from Argentina. Two brands: Lo Tengo and Kaiken. Both were fantastic so if you happen to see any on the shelves at your local store, give them a try. In the meantime. RUN ON!

Marathon training

The AREC MOB



Kristen and the leaders of the pack.

Well, Saturday marked Day 1 for the AREC training regimen and a record number of people showed up for this run. When Kristen and I signed in we were 83 and 84 and I know several more people showed up after us. Pretty cool. It was just a quick 5 miler to get the new people familiar with the area so we'll see how many stick it out when the miles start to add up later. It's really great to see that many new people join the club and get into running. It makes the whole experience that much better.Oh. by the way, I rock!

Intervals

I decided to start doing intervals once a week now. Baby steps at first. Today I just did a quick maintenance 3 miler with 5 intervals starting at the 2 mile mark. I was just doing a light 9 minute pace and then would run an 8 minute pace for 1 minute and then go back to 9 for a minute and did that 5 times. Felt good when I was done. Hated it while running. Oh, I did it on the dreadmill because it's so friggin' windy in LA today so I didn't feel like adding wind resistance to my run.

Bad Blogger

I'll admit it right off the top. I've been a bad blogger. I've been bad about updating on a regular basis, but sadly I don't think I've had a whole helluva lot to say in regards to running or wine-ing. Kristen and I haven't been running many races because life has gotten a bit hectic lately. Our house is under construction right now because we are adding a dining room, 3rd bedroom and a 2nd bathroom. As a result our money and our time has been gobbled up by the endeavor. That said, Kristen is running as part of a team for a half Ironman Triathlon up at Lake San Antonio this weekend so she's been training as usual. She's an animal and runs 8 to 10 miles a day so she's sure to do a kick ass job. The only other race on our horizon is the San Francisco marathon, but we haven't signed up yet. Again, slackers. I'm still putting my miles in and at the end of May the Long Beach AREC running club is starting their Long Beach Marathon training routine so I'm looking forward to cranking up the miles again. I just hope I don't drop another 12 pounds.

On the wine front we haven't made an cool trips to wine country ANYWHERE so I might want to change the blog's name to "Cheap" Wine and the finish line. We're all about the Trader Joe's and Sprout's Market weekday wine. And before you chuckle, there are some surprisingly inexpensive wines out there for daily consumption. Trader Joe's $4.99 line of wines are pretty damn decent for after work and Sprout's has Crane Lake wines on sale that are pretty tasty. Their Petite Sirah is surprisingly tasty.

So, I'd say that I'll be a better blogger, but then I'd actually have to live up to that and if you're reading this you might be saying to yourself, "Um, Mike, I don't think people really give a shit." Anyway, I hope everyone reading this is doing awesome and I'll hopefully have something interesting to say soon.

Crush!

Kristen and I ran the Seal Beach 10k yesterday and I CRUSHED my old PR by 1:52 seconds coming in at 52:11. Now I know that's not all that great for most runners out there, but I'm stoked. It was a good race, better than last year from what I'm told. They started us in waves (something they didn't do last year) and it made the beginning of the race pretty painless. Kristen ran a 42:19 which isn't a PR, but it's pretty close. She got 5th place overall for women and 3rd place in her age group. Something we found out later was that the overall winner was a woman which is pretty rare at these events. She ran something like a 33 minute 10k! Insane! And she was in Kristen's age group so she was really curious to find out who this woman was. Turns out she's an Olympic athlete living in Hawthorne originally from Nigeria. That made Kristen feel better about her 3rd place finish. I, on the other hand, came in 57th in my age group. I don't see a medal in my future any time soon I guess. Oh well.

Shameless Self Promotion

I (Kristen) have been designing jewelry as a hobby/freelance business for the last several years and just got into it again with the launch of my line of jewelry just for runners (chickie runners) called Aspiration Designs. Just this past weekend I created a site www.aspirationdesigns.etsy.com where you can find my latest creations and would love any word of mouth sharing with your lady runner friends!

Lakewood Mug Run

Kristen and I did the Lakewood Mug Run for the second time last weekend. It was great weather this year (last year it was miserably rainy) although I didn't run any faster than last time. Apparently last year I was 3rd in my age group but didn't stick around for the results because of the rain. I only found this fact out when I was looking for my results a week before the race. WIth that information in mind I was hopeful that I would place again this year. As we all know, its not really about how fast you run, but who else shows up (and how fast they are). Results were posted late into the week and it looks like I was 5th in my age group. The day, however, wasn't lost since my lovely wife took home a first place medal for her age group. An interesting thing about this race is the naming for the different age groups. 0-19 is called "junior", 20-29 is called "open", and 30-34 is called "Senior A" and 35-39 is called "Senior B", 40-44 is "Master A", 45-49 is "Master B", 50-54 is "Grand Master A" and 55-dead is called "Grand Master B". Kristen didn't like being called a Senior and when her age group (Senior A) was called and her name announced as first place she didn't understand and thought she had written her age incorrectly on the entry form.

Firecracker!

Kristen and I and two of our friends, Steve and Maureen from AREC, ran the LA Chinatown Firecracker 10k race last Sunday. It's a great, tough run that starts in Chinatown, goes uphill to Elysian Fields where you get a killer view over Dodger Stadium into downtown LA and beyond, and then you get to make up for that lost time by flying downhill the rest of the way. It was a beautiful day and everyone ran pretty good times considering the elevation change.

Kristen, of course, won 2nd place in her age group.

Surf City Report

Better late than never I guess. The HB Surf City race day was a good day. Kristen ran the Half in 1:34:08 and I ran my first Half in 2:04. When I first started training for it I hoped for just under 2 hours. As time went on I didn't get to train as hard as I initially wanted to. I also got a little lazy to be honest. So on race I just went out there with the goal of coming in as close to 2 hours as I could. I was surprised and excited to come in right around when I wanted. Maybe next time I won't be so lazy during the training. The thing about this race (which Kristen and I are both Legacy Long Board members now because we've run it 3 years in a row) is that it's kinda boring. You run up PCH and at around 3 miles in you go uphill, make a loop and then come back down and then continue up and back on PCH which at that point is constantly rolling which gets kinda annoying. Still, it's a good course for putting up good times. Maybe I can PR there next year. Cheers!

Surf City Here We Come

No rain! Yes! Forecast called for light showers this morning for the Huntington Beach Half Marathon which would have blown goats big time. But it looks dry out there. Kristen's knee is bothering her so she's not running the full marathon and is instead opting for the Half. She'll still beat me with a wounded knee. Well, away we go!

Santa Monica 13.1

Kristen ran the inaugural Half Marathon in Santa Monica on Sunday and ran a really great time: 1:37. She didn't PR, but it still kicks the living hell out of most people's time. And as a reward for finishers, Marilyn Monroe, Austin Powers and even Darth Vader joined in on the fun. Aw.

Mmmm beer.

I had a bottle of this the other night and I have to say that it is stellar. BevMo has it right now. Go out and get some. Anderson Valley Brewing Company makes some amazing suds so search them out.

Montreal 2009

Kristen and I hit Montreal for a quick vacation after Xmas this year. It's a great city. Metro. Underground city. Lots of old architecture mixed in with the new and the people are extremely friendly. And it truly is French. We thought it might be more "French" themed, but no no. It's like being in France without having to cross the pond. Nice. We ran on the hotel dreadmills every day and then walked around the city (in 0 degree weather btw) stopping occasionally to shop and drink some vino. Good times. Now, back to reality.